MacMadame

Yeah, it might be better to charge one casual dining (free) and one a la carte dessert.

IIRC, it was a mixed bag. Not a lot of reports and with slightly more failures than successes, but with so few reports, it's hard to say. ETA and @2and2's experience is yet another one who got charged for 2 meals when only 1 person ordered the fixed prix option.

I do want that if at all possible.

Oh, that's a good idea!

We're cruising out of Port Everglades next year and I'm looking into making hotel reservations and (possibly) booking our flights. It seems like Fort Lauderdale is pretty close to Miami so I'm wondering if there is any benefit to flying into Miami instead. Is it cheaper or easier to get transportation? I'm also wondering about cruise line transfers. Should we book those and stay near the airport or just take a Lyft in the AM from a hotel near the port? We would be flying in the day before from the West Coast, probably SFO but maybe Oakland or San Jose airport if that turns out to be cheaper or more convenient. So probably getting there in the evening and going to the port first thing in the AM. IOW, sightseeing is not on the schedule but a nice dinner at a local restaurant might be.

That's awesome! I plan to live that long so ... goals! 😄

I booked our excursions the day they became available and now 2 of them are a lower price with only one being the same price. So for our 2025 cruise, it wasn't a bait and switch. I was planning to book the excursions at the new price and then cancel my original ones but it sounds like, if I do that, I'll end up with OBC and not a refund to my credit card. Is that correct?

Or using OceanNow.

I fly AlaskaAir a lot and our carry-on fits. It's 22.5 x 9.5 x 13.5 if you include wheels and handles and anything else that sticks out. There was one time this carry-on didn't fit in an overhead and it was because of the wheels. I don't remember which airline. Something I have come to realize is that many luggage companies advertise a "carry-on" item that, like ours, is slightly too big in one or more directions. Most of us just take their word that the carry-on size is the correct size. I know I did!

If the 21-day segment is also divided into 3 7-day segments, wouldn't they get 6 free dinners? That's my understanding of how it works.

The one I talked to had a British accent. No idea where she was located but I heard the CVPs are located in the US and the UK so it tracks.

IME, the inside cabins do vary in size. In my first cruise, my cabin was so small that it was hard to turn around in! The one we had on our Disney cruise easily fit the two of us and our two small kids. And the Panama Canal!

This is still free. Delivery Choices: OceanNow: one-time $14.95 fee and you can get food delivered anywhere on the ship *including* your cabin. It has it's own menu that is different from the Room service menu. Room Service: Using the phone to order from the Room service menu is a $5 charge each time. Breakfast Door Hanger: Free. Writing in other items sometimes works and sometimes does not.

I don't do it as an exercise but as a test of my fitness. So far, so good... 😄 I have friends in their 70s and even 80s who still train for triathlons or long-distance cycling/running events so I am comparing myself to some really fit people. It can be discouraging especially when I compare myself to when I was at my fittest (in my 50s). I was slowing down in my 60s even before the pandemic screwed up my routines. Right now I walk my dog for 30-60 minutes most days, swim 1-2 times a week, and ride my bike 1-2 times a week. Starting next week, I'm on a program through my triathlon club and will be adding strength training back in and gradually ramping up the other stuff and changing walking to running. 🤞

I was on a general CC forum and someone was complaining about the NCL call center. Same complaints as here. It really does seem to be the way of things these days. The reason I didn't use a TA is that I couldn't figure out which ones are good and which ones aren't. So I just booked myself.

I've only been in inside cabins on my cruises. I like how dark they are while sleeping and we never spent much time in them. Just sleeping and changing clothes. However, our next cruise has a lot of scenery and a lot of port days so we're springing for a balcony. Time will tell if this was a good decision.

I got a re-fare through a CVP two weeks ago for a cruise that I booked myself online. Final payment is in Oct. and I'm nowhere near paying it. 🤷‍♂️

For everyone on the Sun and in Reserve class cabins, I hope that those chairs are placeholders for the real thing (which are delayed but will show up eventually).

We booked for 5:30 pm in the new app because it's around when we eat anyway and it should give us a shot at both showings. We also said we were willing to share. We figure we'll cancel some of them due to being in port, wanting to try the buffet and specialty dining, and things like that.

I think some of those suites can only booked over the phone so they could be available on a cruise that shows as "sold out" online.

I'm not so sure about that based on a few other things, I think maybe they make a lot of decisions by tacking things on to existing things instead of working the whole thing. Or maybe they do it based on ROI only and not looking at the big picture. So the breakfast room service benefits them enough that they don't feel like charging for it but delivering things to people's rooms at random times does not so they tack on a $5 charge to discourage it. OceanNow is something that distinguishes them from other lines so they make that cheap to encourage people to use it (and tell others how great it is) but not free because charging makes packages more attractive and/or helps to recoup some of the costs. I'm probably overthinking it. But I am an engineer so I like to figure out how things work. 😄

I'd be okay with that as I'm on a 16-nighter. 😄 But I think that doing it that way, even if fair would encourage buying Plus over Premier and I bet they make more money with Premier. My idea is that you divide the number of nights by 7 to get how many "segments" it is even if it's not divided into segments officially. I haven't worked out the numbers though.

Yes, it's way too complicated. Think about trying to explain it all to a newbie. "So room service is $5 an order but not for breakfast where it's free if you use the door tag, but you are limited to the items on the tag except you can write things in and sometimes you will get them but sometimes you will not. Oh and if you order stuff using OceanNow but you are in the room, that's not room service so there is no charge once you pay the $14.95 for OceanNow." "Pizza is free if you go to Slices on the Lido deck but not if you go to Alfredos and if you order it from Room Service, it comes from Alfredos so it costs and also there is a $5 fee but if you order it via OceanNow, it costs but there isn't an additional fee for delivery. And if you do go to Alfredos and you have the Plus package, you can get the fixe prix meal two times but it's a lot of food so if you and your SO both go and split a meal, some cruises will charge you each for a "free" casual dining but some won't." I mean really, who came up with all these different ways to do the same thing? 🤣🤣

The prices I've seen are $20 and $30 depending on the class. These are from pics of the price list posted here on CC.

So it's not just the customer service people giving out misinformation. 🤣